![]() The light trap project, which focuses on the native Dungeness crab-a much-loved treat on the coast that can grow to the size of an adult’s outstretched hand-is a part of this program. Launched in 2022 to mark the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, this community-centered initiative involves understanding how marine invertebrates are adapting to the changing environment. The light trap at Whaler Bay is one in a network of 20 traps placed throughout the Canadian side of the Salish Sea, from Read Island in the north to James Island near Sidney in the south, as part of the Hakai Institute’s multiyear Sentinels of Change program. Jeannine Georgeson, coordinator of the Institute for Multidisciplinary Ecological Research in the Salish Sea, lowers a light trap off the dock at Whaler Bay, Galiano Island, British Columbia. She gives the trap a thorough check and drops it back in the water. She watches the school until the last bit of silver is gone, then turns back to the trap and sets the timer to turn the light on at 8:30 p.m., half an hour before sunset. Sights like these are rare on the island these days, she explains, but when she was young, her uncle would catch anchovies in a tote and bring them home for her to see. As she unscrews the bucket’s lid and removes a timer from a yellow case, a school of shimmering anchovies swims by and a distracted Georgeson exclaims in joy. Inside, a pipe holds a strip of LED lights-all contrived to lure and trap months-old, pea-sized Dungeness crab larvae, which, like many zooplankton, are attracted to light. Below the bucket, a series of funnels and sieves is plugged into a plastic jar. Instead, this trap will catch larval crabs as part of a study that, in time, could help ensure crab dinners in years to come.Īt the corner of the pier, wiping raindrops off her face, Georgeson pulls up what appears to be a half-submerged white bucket, but it’s actually a fairly sophisticated sampling tool-a light trap. Tonight, however, there will be no crab dinner-a once-cherished meal for her family with its Coast Salish and Sahtú-Dene roots. It’s already 8:20 p.m., and she needs to set a crab trap. The silver-hulled Island Spirit II, a seiner that hasn’t fished in the past couple of years, sits docked at the pier as witness to the bygone years.Īs daylight begins to fade, Georgeson cuts short her reminiscence. The number of fish in the bay has dwindled, and so has the size of her extended family’s fishing boat fleet. Over the past two decades, however, things have changed. As we saunter down the boardwalk, Georgeson reminisces about her childhood here: playing on the pier and fishing off the dock while her uncle and grandpa worked on their boats. Georgeson is the coordinator of the Institute for Multidisciplinary Ecological Research in the Salish Sea (IMERSS), a local grassroots organization comprising scientists, scholars, artists, and community members like herself, who take part in a variety of research, from mapping local biodiversity to monitoring microclimatic changes. Amid a lineup of motorboats, pleasure boats, and tugboats, I spot Jeannine Georgeson on the boardwalk, dressed for the weather in jeans and a black rain jacket. The air here at the wooden pier in Whaler Bay on the island’s southeast end is heavy and moist, tinged with a whiff of boat fuel and old wood, and infused with sea salt. Home to nearly 1,400 people, it is one of the 200-odd islands and islets in the Gulf Islands archipelago dotting the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the mainland coast. It’s a gray summer evening on Galiano Island, a long strip of land about 1.5 kilometers across at its narrowest. Listen now, download, or subscribe to “Hakai Magazine Audio Edition” through your favorite podcast app. This article is also available in audio format. Stream or download audio For this article Authored byĪp| 4,200 words, about 21 minutes Share this article Photo by Anna Smith Shining the Light on Baby Crabs In British Columbia, a monitoring project with light traps may illuminate the future of the prized crustaceans. By counting megalopae-larval crabs-caught in a series of traps in the Salish Sea, British Columbia, researchers are gaining insight into the subtleties of the population distribution of the Dungeness crab.
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